Sevier Aquatic Club seeing growth

Sevier Aquatic Club coach Ryan Buechner watches his swimmers during a practice last fall. Buechner said he's seen an increase in numbers with all the club's teams since his arrival five years ago.

SEVIERVILLE —

Swimmingisn’tjust about flying fast through the water.

It’sabout doing it twice.

That’sthe lessonSevierAquatic Club coach RyanBuechneris hoping his five swimmers take from thisweekend’sSoutheastern Short Course championships.

“You have to have the endurance to be able to do it twice,” he said. “If you know what place you should be in (theprelims), being able to save up some for the one at night (is important) becausethat’sthe one that counts.”

Thisweekend’smeet in Nashville features aprelim-final format that forces swimmers to produce two good races to place.That’sgood training for BradyCusick, Sterling Burnett, DylanBortolonand Charles and LilaBlalock,Buechnersaid. Learning to conserve some energy for championship races—and competing against the top two to three percent of swimmers in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida—will only help those five swimmers as they get older and move into high school.

“That’sa really tough thing to learn,”Buechnersaid. “…Ifyou’requalifying for this meet at this age, by the time you get to high school it makes it that much easier.”

That growth is the goal for SAC, which has seen numbers rise inBuechner’sfive years with the club. Next year, the high school team should reach into the 20s for the first time after having just four swimmers whenBuechnerarrived. Summer participation has also grown from about 50 kids to 125 swimmers now.

SAC’shigh school program was young this year—most of the eight county athletes who went to the state meet in Nashville were sophomores or younger—after losing three seniors a year ago. That included Natalie Burnett, who had a top-8 finish at state and is now swimming at Carson-Newman. The college freshman said back in the fallshe’sseen the growthBuechneris talking about at theSeviervilleCommunity Center.

“I guesshe’sbrought like a new, fresh sense to the sport,” she said. “I think he reaches out more to the younger generation. That way we can build the program from the bottom up.”

That’sthe idea. The youth in the high school program is complemented by a strong middle school group at SAC, which includes several eighth graders that swam times this winter thatwould’vequalified them for the state meet. That program placed third earlier this year at the city meet in Knoxville.SAC's8-and-undersfinished second at last weekend's district meet, withKubaShaw andBraxtonCusickgrabbing multiple top-8 finishes.

Buechnersaid getting kids in the pool at the middle school level or younger is key, because it gives them time to develop in a sport that requires year-round participation. To keep those swimmers in the water, the coach has developed flexible schedules that allow athletes to take on other sports when they reach high school and still work on swimming.

That’sexactly the attitude Burnett said the sport needs inSevierCounty.

“You have to get in the pool at a younger age,” Burnett said. “You build on it each year.It’sso hard to get in and go for it.

“For swimming to become more popular I feelwe’regoing to have to appeal to the younger generation and get them in there, get them attached to the love of the sport.”